


Protection

by TigerxFox



Series: Smol Zosans [12]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fireworks, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25789195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerxFox/pseuds/TigerxFox
Summary: Sanji hated fireworks with all his might and all he wanted was to feel protected.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Sanji
Series: Smol Zosans [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687909
Kudos: 77





	Protection

Sanji wants to go home so bad. He's so close to crying and he feels so small. So pathetic. Admittedly, he always feels this way nowadays, so close to giving up and breaking, so powerless. Especially when he's with his father and brothers, being so afraid of them that even the shadows the cast on the ground scare him. But today it's just so much worse, because of his phobia.

Sanji had always hated all kinds of celebrations, festivals and even new year's eve. Not that he really hates all those things per se, but he hates what they all have in common: fireworks.

He doesn't know why; they just scare him. He knows it's just a big explosion in the sky to make people happy, to be pretty and entertaining. And he's a big boy, he shouldn't be afraid of something like this. But he hates them. All they do for him is make him tremble with fear. And he hates there's nothing he can do about it, there's no protection from them. He wants to cry every time he hears one of them explode in the sky and it really doesn't help that he's in this fancy party, with all these people staring at him.

His father pays no attention to him, trying to pretend he hadn't even brought him here in the first place. Sanji wishes he hadn't. He wishes he could have stayed home with mom, maybe she could comfort him, if not protect him. Because he used to think his mom was his guardian angel, that she could look after him, protecting him from any harm. But nowadays Sanji's painfully aware that his mom can't really protect him from anything. Not from the fireworks, not from sorrow, not from dad.

Nothing could. Usually he would hide under his bed when he was at home every time he felt unsafe, he had done that countless times when he was scared of the loud noises. Praying to be protected. Until his brothers found out. They would laugh nonstop every time they saw this behavior, and one of them, most of the time Ichiji, would pull him from under his hiding place just to see the terror in Sanji's eyes.

Sanji's glad they're entertained with other things and aren't paying much attention to him tonight. He can suffer in peace. So he just keeps his small hands on his ears, trembling and trying to muffle the horrid sounds as much as he can, trying not to think about it. Trying to imagine he's safe, under his bed, that something invisible will protect him.

Until someone grabs his arm. It's a little boy just like him with green hair and big ears. He's not dressed as fancy as Sanji and his hand is not as soft as his. Sanji thinks he knows this kid, he's a troublemaker, always breaking people's stuff, always making the adults in this neighborhood mad with him, his father hates the boy. Zoro.

Sanji wonders if he lives on the streets, because that's where he always sees him. And he wonders how he got in this party. He's like a stray cat, the little blond boy thinks, walking on the roofs and jumping through walls and fences.

The green haired boy stares at him, as if trying to comprehend what Sanji's doing, taking the sight of him kneeling on the floor covering his ears and processing to his seaweed brain. And suddenly his face illuminates like he's just had a great idea, and he carries Sanji from the party. He thinks Zoro is crazy or at least stupid. Definitely stupid. But still he lets himself get carried by him, running through the crowd, bumping on a lot of guests.

They arrive at a pool and jump, and Sanji feels his whole body almost freeze from the cold. He then realizes he can't hear the explosions, just some faint noises very distant.

His nice party clothes will probably be ruined, and his father will punish him severely for embarrassing him, for being soaking wet. But he can't bring himself to care. It's just when he cooks in secret, using the kitchen in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. He doesn't think of getting caught or beaten up or locked on his room. He thinks about what he wants, he thinks about trying to cook, trying to do things right. Trying to be free.

And maybe he should be more scared of this. Of drowning, of the dark. Because he had always been kind of a coward when it came to it and being underwater when all you can see it's pitch black should be very scary. He isn't scared though. He feels safe with the silence, he holds Zoro's callused hands in his own and they keep him anchored and secure.

He doesn't feel protected though. He feels stronger.

**Author's Note:**

> Written after staring too much at [this art](https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/69576504) and thinking about fear of fireworks.


End file.
